Influence of fibers and solid lubricants on low amplitude oscillating wear of polyetherimide composites

The influence of short fiber reinforcement and solid lubricants is widely studied in rotational sliding adhesive wear mode, but not much is reported in low amplitude oscillating wear situation. In this paper a series of polyetherimide (PEI) composites with increasing amount of short glass fibers (GF) 10–40% in the step of 10%, was selected for investigating the influence of GF on friction and wear. A composite containing 25% GF and three solid lubricants was also selected to examine the influence of solid lubricants in the presence of GF. The studies were conducted under various loads and temperatures on a SRV Optimol tester. It was observed that the coefficient of friction was constant irrespective of the amount of GF in PEI, load, temperature and sliding duration. The inclusion of solid lubricants, however, reduced it significantly. Wear behavior, on the other hand, was benefited due to the presence of GF and lubricants as well. Among all GF reinforced composites 10% inclusion of GF showed highest wear resistance. Further inclusion of lubricants improved it significantly. With increase in load and temperature, the specific wear rate increased marginally for the composites and substantially for the PEI. SEM proved to be helpful in understanding the wear mechanisms.